Palmetto Promise has spoken out strongly on what should happen to Santee Cooper, the state-owned partner in the V.C. Summer nuclear debacle. We correctly predicted future rates and provided a hard figure on what Santee Cooper customers will be paying per day over the 38 years it will take to pay off the nearly $15 billion in principal and interest owed.
Since 1969, when state lawmakers passed the Territorial Assignment Act, energy providers in South Carolina have enjoyed monopoly market power over the defined geographical areas in which they operate.
It finally hit me this week. Santee Cooper is a 1970 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Very cool then, but just not practical now. At 12.8 miles per gallon, a new driver wouldn’t do the Firebird much good. Likewise, Santee Cooper, with debts right at $15 billion including interest, needs a total makeover, not just new
During testimony before the South Carolina legislature’s Public Service Authority Evaluation and Recommendation Committee this past summer and fall, a number of seemingly insurmountable hurdles to selling Santee Cooper were floated.
On Thursday of this week, the South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC), the state agency charged with setting rates and generally serving as a tribunal for utilities in South Carolina, held its first hearing on both the Dominion deal and future nuke rates. The PSC is considering whether Dominion Energy, a Virginia-based company, should be
The South Carolina General Assembly will soon hear buyout offers for Santee Cooper. Following a two-hour meeting, according to The State, state lawmakers contracted with a consulting firm on October 17 to study the sale of the state-owned utility as well as field prospective candidates for its purchase. The firm, ICF International, will serve as
It’s been over a year since Santee Cooper and SCE&G (SCANA) pulled the plug on its V.C. Summer nuclear project. But an alarming number of South Carolinians are still in the dark on the details of that failed gambit.
The mood in the room was tense but orderly as SCE&G ratepayers from around Columbia waited their turn to testify before the South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC), the body legally charged with regulating South Carolina’s monopoly investor-owned utilities. Recurring calls for justice, accountability and energy competition emerged as seniors, business owners and activists testified
Last week, Santee Cooper finally got their day in court. Interim President & CEO James (Jim) Brogdon, Jr. along with General Counsel Mike Baxley, CFO Jeff Armfield and Senior Vice President for Corporate Services Pamela Williams appeared before the General Assembly’s Public Service Authority Evaluation & Recommendation Commission to update the legislature on the state of their agency and to be cross-examined by a panel that included the Governor himself.
